By Gillian Graham

Staff Writer

Five months afterbeing rescued from a life on the streets of Old Orchard Beach, Pickles the catis settling in to her new home in Portland.

Joie Grandbois-Gallupadopted Pickles last fall, weeks after she was taken into the town kennel as astray. The cat was the first stray cat placed with an adoptive family by theOld Orchard Beach Community Animal Watch, which began meeting in November.

The group’s missionis to protect the health and welfare of abandoned or homeless domesticatedanimals and support an environment for humane practices, said Chairman JacquiDeveneau. The group has placed nine animals – mostly cats – and has severalmore cats at the town kennel.

Grandbois-Gallupfirst saw a photo of Pickles sent by Deveneau. She said she was able to adoptthe Coon cat mix, which is less than a year old, because of a discounted spayprovided by a local veterinarian. All animals adopted from a kennel arerequired by state law to be spayed or neutered.

Grandbois-Gallup saidshe is glad to see a community group working to place stray animals

“I think it’s a goodthing,” she said. “Sometimes there’s a gap between when animals are found byanimal control and when they end up in shelters. They now have a better chanceof being adopted.”

Old Orchard Beachdoes not have a contract with an area animal shelter that allows owners tosurrender their pets, said William Watson, animal control officer. The policedepartment wanted to contract with a shelter last year, but the idea wasrejected during budget proceedings when a community group protested, he said.

“We don’t have aplace for people to take a cat and say ‘Hey, I don’t want this animalanymore,’” he said.

Watson said stray cats and dogs are taken to the townkennel on Portland Road, where he scans them for microchips. If the animals donot have a microchip, he and members of the animal watch group distributefliers with photos around town and on public access television. If owners arenot located in about a week, Watson must send the animals to a private kennelin Lisbon or let the group begin looking for a permanent home.

Watson said the town has a big stray cat problem,which he attributes in part to society’s attitude toward cats. Many ownersassume their cats have just run off and don’t report them missing, he said. Thetown has about a 99 percent return rate on dogs; three dogs in the past fiveyears could not be reunited with their owners, he said.

Watson said he is lucky to return a third of straycats to their owners. A cat retrieved this week was reunited with its owner ayear after it left home, he said. The animal watch group distributed the cat’sphoto throughout town to locate the owner.

Deveneau, who has two cats of her own, said the straycat problem seemed to worsen as the economy slipped into a recession. Shethinks many people just abandon their cats instead of finding them a properhome.

“Our rate of stray animals before the recession wasgreat,” she said. “Now that we’re in this recession, it’s even worse,” shesaid.                 

“That’s why we need a group like community animalwatch to do public education to get rid of the idea that it is OK to leave yourcat outside,” Watson said.

The animal watch group currently has 30 members andis looking for volunteers to help at the town kennel, Deveneau said. Volunteersare also needed to foster animals in their homes so they feel safe and aretreated with love and affection, she said.   

The group also is exploring ways to work with FeralFelines program to control the feral cat population through spaying andneutering, Deveneau said.

The group meets the third Wednesday of each monthfrom 6 to 8 p.m. at the police substation at the Grand Victorian. For moreinformation about the animal watch group and volunteer opportunities, callDeveneau at 934-1911 or go to www.oobanimalwatch.org. style="">              

Watson encourages residents to report any missing petto him as soon as possible by calling 934-4911.

Staff Writer Gillian Graham can be reached at282-4337, ext. 213.